iPad Holders

[Sven]

I'm looking at the iPad Yokepad as a solution to hold my iPad. But, I'm cheap and it really bothers me that a machined device to hold up a small computer costs more than a 500 gb portable hard drive. When I think about the complexity of what makes up a hard drive compared to a collection of short metal rods and clamps I think about how the cost of aviation-related materials are completely overpriced. I found one strap-on lap holder that was almost $300 and thought about what a joke that is. So, before I purchase this overpriced holder, has anyone used this? I can't seem to find any reviews.

http://www.pilotmall.com/product/ipad-yokepad/new-products

Thanks for listening to my rant and not trying to fix me (my wife's words).

-Sven (the Angry Viking)

[ELT]

Hi Sven,

I have used the RAM mount attached to the co-pilot yoke for about 1 year.  Center post and pilot yoke mount cover too much other stuff.  Not ideal but it works.  Especially, as my wife is a pilot (soloed at 16 but has let me pilot for the last 40 years).  She operates the iPad, copies clearances, crosschecks my navigation and pulls up approach plates as needed.

[DaV8or]

Sven, I agree with you... you're cheap. $75 is reasonable for that mount as long as it's made in the US. If it's Chinese it should be cheaper. You and I know the hard drive comparison is bogus. Believe me, get a couple million people to buy these yoke clamps and the price will go down! I know it just looks like simple erector set stuff and it is, but think of the time it would take you to design and build this thing yourself. Time is money. If you have lots of time and little money, then you should study this design and build one yourself. It wouldn't be too tough and I encourage that. If you're like me and short on time, then suck it up, pay the price and enjoy the benefits of somebody elses labor. Life is good when it's easy and you will soon forget about the money spent.

[DaV8or]

P.S.-

I have the kneeboard mount and it works pretty well for me. I really hate having anything heavy flopping around on the yoke personaly.

[Hank]

It may be heresy, but the new Sporty's catalog that came last night has several iPad mounts for $40-$75 . . . plus kneeboard option, too, if you don't want it riding loose in your lap.

[neil]

Sven,

This iPad Yokepad is made in the USA. Costs to machine a product of this quality in low volume are rather pricey. I think you'll find it to be the best value in iPad accessories.

I own a Mooney Ovation 3 myself, and use the iPad Yokepad (I actually designed the device). I think you'll be happy with it.

Neil Glazer

President, PilotMall.com

[Mooney65E]

Quote: Sven

 So, before I purchase this overpriced holder, has anyone used this?

http://www.pilotmall.com/product/ipad-yokepad/new-products

Sven (the Angry Viking)

[neil]

I'm not familiar with the Skypad. Do you know the dimensions of that unit?

Neil

[jetdriven]

can anyone make an ipad holder that doesnt have it in your face? How about nesting between the yoke grips?

[Mooney65E]

Quote: neil

I'm not familiar with the Skypad. Do you know the dimensions of that unit?

Neil

[Sabremech]

Here's where I purchased mine from. Works great and doesn't cost a fortune.

http://www.gpscity.com/ram-mount-apple-ipad-clamp-mount-ram-b-121-ap8u.html

 

[Cris]

I use the same one Sabremech has & agree it works great. Has anyone tried the Ram seat rail version?

[N9937c]

If you REALLY want to be amazed that something costs as it does, What about noise cancelling headsets?

TOTAL BULLSHIT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

larry

[Hank]

Quote: N9937c

If you REALLY want to be amazed that something costs as it does, What about noise cancelling headsets?

TOTAL BULLSHIT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

 

I couldn't agree more with this statement. That's why I bought a set of Halo's from Quiet Technologies for 1/3 the price of Bose's. No more clamped headaches, no more hat buttons pressed into my head, no more sweaty ears . . . But it's not really something you want to share. That's what the old clamp-ons are for!

Seriously, though, as an iPad newbie, I don't want to mount that large, heavy thing on my yoke, I wouldn't be able to see the panel and it will cover up my clock. Sliding around in my lap, all loose, is also undesirable. But for it to be useful in the air, it needs three things:  1) the ability to display sectionals with my desired route marked on it [like I still highlight on paper charts]; 2) weather display [i know, Sky Radar, ADS-B, etc.; but they are almost as expensive as XM, lots of wires to trip over, etc.]; 3) some way to keep it handy, in view, and not in the way of taking notes while talking to ATC enroute.

[flyboy0681]

Quote: Hank

[Cris]

I mount my Ipad2 with the Ram mount on the co-pilots yoke. It faces me & it does not block any thing. I am curious to see if the seat rail mount from Ram would not be better as it will positions the Ipad even closer but I'd like a pirep before purchasing.

[Cris]

In regards to headsets I use the Bose A20's after trying a number of headsets & have found them to be extremely comfortable & quiet. Both of those requirements are necessary for me since I use higher power settings (more noise) & longer distance flights 5hrs. More to the point I found I was missing calls with my old passive Flightcom's. Yes these are expensive & I am like the old Mooney miser Norm so to get me to pay for these was a real effort but they are truly a significant improvement over the old Bose models. One thing I did to reduce the costs was to buy a set of the old Bose series 1's on e-bay that did not work very well for $100 (Mooney miser) & trade them in to Bose for a $300 discount thus getting a net $200 discount. Bose does not care if they work. The other thing I did was to get the $150 flight instructor discount from Bose for the second set. You can't combine discounts but it sure helps to reduce costs. BTW I never could use the David Clarks or some of the other look alikes due to the heat & pressure.    

[flyboy0681]

No matter how comfortable the Bose are, they aren't as comfortable as the Halo. I can't imagine anything can compete with one ounce over the ear.

[Cris]

UR 100% correct! My only experience with over the ear headsets was many years ago & not applicable today. I did not find them as quiet but I have not tried the Halo & would like to do a comparison at some point. Did not the Aviation Consumer article still rate the Bose higher?

[DaV8or]

Since this thread is creeping... I finally had my first iPad meltdown the other day. Over heated and froze up. In addition, the sun hits mine and I see nada. I don't have an anti glare film because the one I tried turned my iPad into a pimply lepper and I had to ditch it. Total waste of $20. I swore that if I was to do another, I would have it installed by the guy selling it to me. This is now pretty much impossible because I have an iPad 1 and the only place to get anything for it is the internet.

Bottom line, the iPad is a great preflight tool and it neat to have in the cockpit when it works, but I can't get rid of all my paper yet.

[flyboy0681]

[bnicolette]

We have been using iPad's exclusively in our flight department for the last 6 months.  We obviously carry two, one for each pilot, and have never had a problem with them.  They operate seemlessly, batter life is excellent, charts are there at a click of the button, don't have to boot them up, etc..  They have just been fantastic.  When I used to fly for Flight Options back in 2000, we used the fujitsu systems and they were a GIANT pain in the butt; had to boot them up, they crashed all the time, and they were bulky.

I also use the iPad in my Mooney, but I just haven't found a great place for mounting it yet.  Being that I commute with my airplane, the right seat is always empty, so that is where I keep the iPad in flight.  I also have my iPhone 4 with Foreflight on it incase the iPad should have a problem.  I don't think it would be a great idea to not have some sort of backup for the iPad "just in case".

[georgeb]

 

Ok, I have to chime in this one, but first some pre-qualifying information. I'm 6'1" 240 so I'm a big guy. I have the 3g/wi-fi version of the IPAD. I've settled on Foreflight for my software and have now logged about 40 hours with it in real-time flying (much more pre-flighting and learning). I've had my IPAD now for about 6 months and have finally ditched the paper stuff. I purchased 2 products, Foreflight, and Skycharts. I purchased Skycharts for some information on Special Use Areas (MOA's, ...) that was lacking on earlier versions of Foreflight. I did mention this to Foreflight back in January and they said they would consider adding it to future releases....they did . So, with the last major update Foreflight came out with they pretty much made my skycharts un-necessary. I just returned from 20 hours flight time over 2 days on a trip from ELP to SFF and back. The way up via Las Vegas and the way back via Denver. Lot's of in-flight time and a chance to try out (learn) all of the features and try out a couple of different kneeboard options. What I ended up with will surprise you. Here's my 2 Cents.

1. First off, the topic of this post: Which holder. I purchased everything from a basic kneeboard holder to the expensive Mygolflight case (which is beautiful by the way). What I've found the most comfortable was to have it sitting on my lap with NO HOLDER in a landscape mode. The Mygoflight, while impressive, was too cumbersome to work with for when I needed to tilt the pad because of issues with the sun. That one issue is what pretty much renders ANY HOLDER useless. There are times when you need to tilt it or simply lift it closer to you and the best that I have found is to simply have it laying on my lap. It doesn't bother me nor does it slide around, it's perfectly fine on my lap.

2. The internal GPS is pretty much useless if you want to use it to track your position as well as just preflight and in-flight information. There are Several options out there, I have the Bad ELf and it works fine right off of my Lap. I also purchased the extension in case I needed to have the GPS on the dash, but I never needed it....don't waste your money on that.

3. While the battery life on the Ipad is excellent, it won't last you much more than about 3 hours of constant use while in-flight with the foreflight software running. For those long days where you have multiple 2-3 hour legs, it won't last you the whole day. I purchased a simple Ipad charger from Amazon for about $20 and it's worked flawlessly. The charging cable that came with the Bad Elf, is used instead of the Standard white apple cable and while in-flight both the Bad Elf and Ipad are charging. This method has maintained well over 95% charge throughout the entire day and when I take it out for pre-flight during rest stops, it's fully charged, ready for the next leg or the next day for that matter.

4. Contrary to popular belief (and even to foreflight's recommendation because of battery life), I leave the 3g on while in-flight and while it's not full time coverage, you do get progressive updates on weather, TAFs, Winds, Metars....while in-flight. Definitely as you near any larger city, but I even get updates while flying through most small towns and sometimes even where I would least expect to get coverage. At any rate, Leave it on and you'll have more up-to-date information as you fly along rather that just what you updated while pre-flighting.

5. Some ideas for a design on a better holder, I have an IPAD cover that has an attached keyboard that I purchased from Brookstone for about $70. I use My IPAD for everything, not just my flying, so the case was purchased specifically for facilitating my typing...nothing else. I had gotten use to just folding the cover over and leaving the IPAD on top (an option that the cover allows) and found this last trip that by having the Ipad tilted about 3-4 inches facing me (also an option with the keyboard cover) it placed the IPAD in the perfect position. So if someone is looking to make one (I might just make one myself), In my humble opinion, this would be the best position for it: Just a holder that would sit on my lap and would cover both my legs with the ipad centered with the yoke tilted facing you. This got rid of most of the glare and it was always easiest to work my foreflight software.....among other things ;-) . 

Keep in mind that these observations are based on my height and in a Mooney m20e to be specific..

Hope it helps someone.

George.

 

 

[bnicolette]

I haven't tried this setup in flight yet, but it seems it might be workable.  I definitely like the iphone in this position.  The iPad blocks out my 396, but I can move it up higher.  I must say that the RAM mounts are incredibly solid!!!!

I am able to manipulate the iPad to go higher so I can see my 396, or rotate it a bit so it is facing right at the right seat and I can see behind it.  I can also rotate it to landscape mode at which point the 396 becomes visible without moving it up much higher.  Again, I haven't tried this in flight yet as you may notice from the pictures....I have no yokes!!  They are in the care of Aero Comfort being wrapped with leather.  They are on their way back to me.  Can't wait to see and feel them in flight.